Goal: Order hospitals to treat abortions as time-sensitive and essential medical procedures.

Women in Moscow are being denied access to abortion services, threatening their health and plans for the future in spite of abortion being considered an essential operation. While Moscow’s mayor has taken great steps to contain the spread of coronavirus, overwhelmed hospitals have ignored city and federal directives to continue treating crucial and time-sensitive conditions by refusing to treat women with unsafe or unwanted pregnancies. While Moscow’s hospitals have a duty to prioritize fighting COVID-19, they also have an ethical duty to perform life-saving operations, which includes abortion.

Numerous studies have shown that restricting access to abortion will simply drive women to undergo illegal and unsafe procedures beyond the law, leaving them vulnerable to violence, illness, and mistreatment. Without access to abortion services, women are more likely to end up with children they can’t care for or without care for dangerous pregnancies. Sign the petition below to demand that Moscow’s mayor ensure hospitals in his city keep vital abortion services available.

PETITION LETTER:

Dear Mr. Sobyanin,

Women in your city are being denied access to abortion care, in violation of their rights as guaranteed by Russian law. While your administration has made great strides in protecting Muscovites from COVID-19, you still have a duty to protect access to vital medical care. Activists have reported that only three of Moscow’s 44 hospitals are agreeing to schedule abortions, placing the lives of women in need of abortions in direct and serious danger.

I demand that you ensure Moscow’s health department continue to offer abortions and similarly important procedures.